Material conveyer for furnaces



April 29, 1930. F. T. COPE 1,756,584

MATERIAL CONVEYER FOR FURNACES Original Filed Jan 5, 1927 Patented Apr.29, 1930 UNITED STATES PATE NT OFFICE FRANK T. COPE, OF SALEM, OHIO,ASSIGNOR TO THE ELECTRIC FURNACE COMPANY,

OF SALEM, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO MATERIAL CON VEYER FOR FURNACESOriginal application filed January 3, 1927, Serial No. 158,516. Dividedand this application filed November 30, 1928.

The invention relates to mechanism for conveying material throughfurnaces and more particularly to a conveyer apparatus for feedingsmallirregular shaped articles through a heat treating or annealingfurnace at a uniform speed, and this application is a division of mycopending application for material conveyers for furnaces, filed Jannary3, 1927, Serial No. 158,516.

In annealing or heat treating articles such as bolts, rivets and otherlike irregularly shaped articles, difiiculty; has been experienced inuniformly feeding the articles through the annealing furnace. Attemptschave been made to accomplish uniform feeding of the material byinclining the hearth and providing pusher means for passing the articlesdown the inclined hearth, but such apparatus has not proved successful,it 'being found that where the incline is sufficiently great to permitthe articles to slide through .the furnace the speed of movement of thearticles cannot be uniformly controlled, and where the incline islessened sufficiently to overcome this difliculty there is a tendencyfor the articles to stop before they reach the end of the furnacehearth.

The object of the present improvement is to overcome the abovedifficulties by providing a pusher 'conveyer means in combination with afurnace hearth whereby the articles are continuously conveyed throughthe furnace step by step at a uniform rate of I support for the articlesto be heate theartispeed; and by providing pawls for engagement with thearticles whereby the articles are prevented from being moved in all thedirections in which the pusher conveyer'is moved.

The above and other objects may be attained by providing a reciprocatinconveyer cles being moved in one direction with the support with eachforward reciprocation thereof, and means being provided for preventingthe articles from returning with the back stroke of the conveyersupport.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated inv the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view Serial No.322,804.

through a furnace provided with the improved material conveyer adaptedfor feeding rivets, bolts and similar articles;

Fig. 2, a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a modified form of thefeeding'means; and

Fig. 3, a section on the line 33, Fig. 1.

Similar numerals of reference refer to corresponding p'arts throughoutthe several figures of the drawings.

, Referring first to the structure illustrated in Fig. 1, the furnacelmay be of any usual and well known design and is provided with theinclined hearth 2, the ends of which are preferably extending throughthe charging and discharging openings 3 and 4 respectively.

The hearth is provided with spaced longitudinally disposed ribs 5forming channels 6 therebetween of a width substantially equzal to onedimension of the articles shown at A reciprocating bar 8 is located uponthe bottom of each channel and arranged to be reciprocated by anysuitable means such as the lever 9 and pitman rod 10.

This pitman rod may be operatively connected to a crank arm 11 carriedby a shaft 12 arranged to be rotated by any suitable gearing located inthe gear housing 13 and driven as by the motor 14.

In therear position each rod is arran ed to be located, as shown in fulllines in ig. 1, with its free end-15 extending a portion of the lengthof one of the channels 6.

With a forward movement of the reciprocating conveyor support asindicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1 the articles resting thereon arecarried forwardly along the channel 6.

. For preventing back movement of the articles whenthe reciprocatingconveyer support is moved backward again, there is provided one or morepivoted downwardly and forwardly inclined pawls 16 adapted to rest uponthe bolts or other articles 7 and the end portions of the pawls engagethe articles to 15 of the conveyer support drop into the channel 6 asshown at A.

Upon the next forward movement of-the bar the articles in the channel 6forward of the end 15 of thereciprocating support are pushed furtherforward upon the hearth by the reciprocation of the conveyer support,and by further reciprocation thereof the articles finally are passeddown the inclined discharge chute 17. Thus the rate of movement of thearticles through the furnace is uniformly controlled, each row ofarticles moving slowly and uniformly downward through its channel, theforemost articles in each row being intermittently projected outofthefurnace. Any desired rate of movement of the material through thefurnace may be obtained by regulating the speed of reciprocation of thebars accordingly.

The constructionshown in Fig. 2 is very similar to that shown in Fig. 1.The furnace 1 may be provided with a substantially horizontal hearth 2,the ends of which are preferably extended through the charging anddischarging openings 3 and 4.

The hearth is provided with spaced longitudinally disposed ribs 5forming channels 6 therebetween substantially equal to one dimension ofthe articles shown at 7 The reciprocating bar 8, however, may extendsubstantially the entire length of the nels and resting on the articlestherein, and the end portions of the pawls engaging the articles whenthe bars are moved backward for preventing the articles from movingbackward therewith.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name.

K T. COPE.

' hearth and if desired a plurality of pawls 16" may be provided atspaced intervals throughout the lengthof the hearth.

This reciprocating bar 8 is located in the bottom of each channel 6 andis arranged to be reciproeated by the lever 9 and pitman rod 10operatively connected to a crank arm 11 carried by a shaft 12 arrangedto be rotated by any suitable gearing located in the gear housing 13 anddriven as by the motor 14.

In this form the invention, with each forward movement of the bar, allof the articles are carried forwardly upon the bar and then as the barmoves backward the pawls 16 retain the articles in the same manner asabove described, permitting this bar to slide from beneath the foremostarticles, which upon the next forward movement ofthe bar are dischargeddown the chute 17%.

' I claim:

1. A material conveyer for furnaces in-.

their end portions extending into the chan-o I eluding a hearth providedwith channels to receive articles to be conveyed through the furnace,bars located in the bottoms of the channels, means for reciprocating thebars for moving articles resting thereon, and downwardly and forwardlyinclined awls mounted in the furnace having their en portions extendinginto the channels and resting on the articles therein, and the endportions of the pawls engaging'the articles when the bars are movedbackward for preventing the articles from moving backward there with. 1

2. A material conveyer for furnaces in-

